Diplomatic back channels: when Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva
When US president Joe Biden meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Geneva on June 16, it won’t be the first time the leaders of two superpowers hold a summit in the Swiss city.
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Coulisses diplomatiques: Reagan-Gorbatchev, un sommet pour l’Histoire
Biden and Putin will meet on the neutral ground of Switzerland in an attempt to patch up deteriorating relations. Nuclear arms control will be on the agenda, as it was in 1985, when then US president Ronald Reagan held historic talks with former head of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.
That Geneva summit proved to be a turning point in history.
How different was the context then? Why the choice of Switzerland? What was the outcome of the summit?
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The situation at the end of the 1960s in the Middle East is tense. Israel and the Arab states are at war. Syria clashes against Israel over occupied territories in the Golan Heights. The US hopes to stabilise the region by strengthening ties with Arab nations. It is in Geneva that presidents Hafez al-Assad and Jimmy Carter meet in 1977 for peace negotiations. The talks are unsuccessful. In 1990, president George H. W. Bush meets Assad in Geneva again. The context is tense, and only a few weeks…
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As tensions and oil prices rise in the Middle East, the Swiss foreign ministry is offering its good offices. But what are they?
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Whether it’s acting as a messenger between two non-speaking states or trying to actively mediate and broker a resolution, Switzerland’s good offices have a long tradition. The alpine nation first acted as a protecting power in the 19th century when it looked after the interests of the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Dukedom of Baden…
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“The leaders will discuss the full range of pressing issues, as we seek to restore predictability and stability to the US-Russia relationship,” read a White House statementExternal link issued on Tuesday. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev held talks in Geneva on Monday to pave the way for…
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